Rakon Space Oscillators On Board O3b Satellites

On 18 December 2014 Thales Alenia Space’s four satellites manufactured for O3b Networks, were successfully launched by Arianespace from the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana. The new satellites are set to be added to the network shortly.

The four satellites each use two space Oven Controlled Crystal Oscillators (OCXOs) designed and manufactured by Rakon – one for the GPS board and the other for the Satellite Management Unit.

“Rakon is very proud to be involved in this next-generation network which aims to combine the reach of satellites with the speed of fibre to deliver high speed data connectivity including broadband internet access to the ‘Other 3 billion’ people that still require high speed voice and data network communication” said Fabrice Goulven, Marketing and Sales Manager for Rakon’s High-Reliability Business Unit in France.

Positioned at an altitude of 8,062 kilometres, four times closer to the earth than geostationary satellites, these Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellites, operating in the Ka-band, offer high data throughput and low mouth-to ear, one-way latency for internet connectivity and other telecommunications services in emerging markets.

The addition of four new spacecraft has increased O3b’s fleet to a dozen satellites and the company reported it would launch more satellites over the next few years. The company now has a total of 12 satellites in orbit, delivering high-quality connectivity to customers in the Pacific, Africa, the Middle East and Asia.